Techmeme
January 6, 2014, 7:25 PM

Top News

J.J. Colao / Forbes:
The Inside Story Of Snapchat: The World's Hottest App Or A $3 Billion Disappearing Act?  —  THIRTEEN MONTHS AGO Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, the richest twentysomething in history, reached out to Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, who oversees a revenue-less app that makes photos disappear, with an invitation …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Pebble Reveals The Pebble Steel For $249 Shipping Jan. 28; App Store Coming Soon  —  Smartwatch pioneer Pebble is introducing something everyone has been waiting for at CES this year: new hardware.  But the hardware isn't so new that it throws the baby out with the bath water …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Sponsored Data: AT&T will now let companies buy out your data charges for specific videos and apps  —  Today at CES, AT&T announced a new service called Sponsored Data, offering a way for companies to pick up the tab for 4G data usage whenever particular products or services are being used.
Bruce Schneier / Wired:
The Internet of Things Is Wildly Insecure — And Often Unpatchable  —  We're at a crisis point now with regard to the security of embedded systems, where computing is embedded into the hardware itself — as with the Internet of Things.  These embedded computers are riddled with vulnerabilities, and there's no good way to patch them.
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Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Mat Smith / Engadget:
Samsung's new Galaxy Tab Pro series comes in 12-, 10- and 8-inch sizes, but looks a little too familiar (hands-on)  —  Not stopping with its new productivity-centered Galaxy Note Pro, Samsung has three more tablets to launch this year.  Say hello to the Galaxy Tab Pro, in 12.2-, 10.1- and 8.4-inch screen sizes.
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:
Mashable raises $13 million to launch expansion effort  —  Nearly a decade into its existence, the news Web site Mashable is taking on outside investors for the first time.  —  The site plans to announce on Monday that it has raised $13.3 million in an equity investment round led by Updata Partners.
Alex Williams / TechCrunch:
Microsoft Acquires Parature For $100M In Deal To Bolster Knowledge Base For Dynamics CRM Platform  —  Microsoft has acquired Parature, a customer service SaaS provider, for $100 million, according to sources close to the deal.  The Parature acquisition gives Microsoft Dynamics, its CRM platform …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Microsoft reportedly considers letting consumers pick a device and then its OS: Windows Phone or Android  —  We've already heard rumors that Microsoft has courted smartphone OEMs to offer dual-boot options for Windows Phone and Android, as well as looked at cutting the licensing fees that it normally charges device makers.
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Huawei's big Ascend Mate 2 4G can charge up your iPhone, coming to the US  —  Given the recent leak, Huawei's announcement of the Ascend Mate 2 4G should be no surprise to anyone.  The device is essentially an LTE Cat 4 (read: 150Mbps!) refresh of its predecessor, packing a similar 6.1-inch 720p IPS panel …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Palo Alto Networks Buys Cyber Security Startup Founded By Former NSA Engineers, Morta  —  In its first acquisition, security company Palo Alto Networks is acquiring stealthy cyber security startup Morta Security.  Financial details were not disclosed about the transaction …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Rebooting webOS: how LG rethought the smart TV  —  Four years after it was first introduced, webOS comes back to CES in a radically different form  —  Things never went very well for webOS.  Between its blockbuster launch at CES in 2009 and its relaunch on LG's smart TVs today lies a history …
Katie Roof / Fox Business:
Source: AOL Tried to Buy Business Insider for $100M+  —  AOL Inc. (AOL) offered to purchase BusinessInsider.com, a popular business and technology news website, for more than $100 million but talks ultimately broke down when the two sides couldn't agree on price, the FOX Business Network has learned.
Ashlee Vance / Businessweek:
Google Teams With GM, Honda, and Audi to Bring Android to Cars  —  That kid—the one in the back of the SUV with the iPad—is the automotive industry's worst enemy.  He's also the reason some of the world's biggest automakers are working with Google to bring its Android software into vehicle infotainment systems.
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
The Asus Transformer Book Duet hybrid can instantly switch between Windows and Android  —  Back at Computex in June, Asus introduced its Transformer Book Trio — a computer that could function as both a laptop and tablet and dual-booted between Windows 8 and Android.
Jeff Cork / Game Informer:
EA Loses Third Wave Of Studio Founders  —  Chillingo founders Chris Byatte and Joe Wee are leaving the company they founded in 2005, making them the third wave of leaders to depart EA in a week.  —  We reached out to EA, and were given the following short and sweet statement: “Joe and Chris have left Chillingo and EA.
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
Vizio updates its Thin + Light laptop and all-in-one with Haswell processors, Iris Pro graphics  —  It's now been exactly two years since Vizio announced it was making the bold move of entering the PC marketplace with its Thin + Light laptops and all-in-one desktop computers.

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